Secretive Apple TV+ film ‘Project Artemis’ starring Scarlett Johansson takes over NASA with a blast from the past

Last year, Apple dropped $100 million into a space race movie starring Scarlett Johansson titled “Project Artemis.” Now, the movie is filming at the iconic Kennedy Space Center, filling the press site with vintage cars to match the era of the film.

The movie has seen quite a few changes in the last year. The director, originally set to be Jason Bateman, left the film and was replaced with Greg Berlanti due to creative differences. With the changing schedule, Chris Evans, who was set to star alongside Johansson, also had to leave, and he was replaced with Channing Tatum. The cast also includes Jim Rash, Ray Romano, and Woody Harrelson.

Not much is known about the plot of the film beyond its 1960’s timeframe and space-race focus, though some hints could be gathered by background casting calls for the movie. Extras were needed to portray a part of the Soviet space program, Interkosmos. This real-life program sent humans to space starting in the late 70s (and satellites much earlier) and was designed to help send Soviet Union allies into space with both crewed and uncrewed missions. The casting call also called for people to play NASA employees and FBI/Secret Service agents.

Filming for the movie began in late October of last year, but in February vintage cars began to fill the parking lots of Kennedy Space Center in Florida as preparations for some filming on-location began.

Along with vintage cars filling the parking lots, the press site clock, which was replaced with a large display several years ago, was made to appear much like the original, while bleachers and flags were set up.

While filming may be well underway by this point (and at least some cast members have already completed all their scenes), the release of the movie is still a long way away. Even the title of the movie isn’t clear. While it was revealed as “Project Artemis,” Bateman said in May of last year that it was only a working title, and likely to change. On set, crew members have apparently been referring to it as “Eleven,” though this itself my be just a production or ruse title.